


HELLO we're sure to meet again!

by kingozma



Category: Original Work, Sort of! - Fandom, endeavor - Fandom
Genre: Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Curse Breaking, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingozma/pseuds/kingozma
Summary: technically half-fanwork (of a newgrounds game called endeavor and the complicated fancharacters i made for it) and half-original work (because the fancharacters might as well be wholly my own at this point...)[content warnings: referenced history of octet emotionally abusing cognet and overall just being a shitty know it all big brother, mentions of light grooming (from an adult to an adult, no minors involved), parent death, death in general as well as mention of animal death]
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	HELLO we're sure to meet again!

No one had heard a thing about or from the middle son of the dead Rose King for weeks after the fall of the Mountain to a very, very bad dream. Which was fine by most people, because most people didn't know him - and everyone who did, hated him.

But everyone was dead, now. No one left living knew he existed, save for the nightmares of the Land Below the Mountain. The Mountain itself - it was a very small kingdom. Maybe 15 dwarves in all, all of them men, who had all seemingly banded together after the kind Rose King's slow death by withering away, to collectively bully all three of his sons out of gaining the confidence to claim their father's empty throne.

After all, the Rose King produced three dwarf-dwarves. They were tiny, stout - but thin little men, and their beards were short, fluffy, pathetic - the youngest had never even grown a beard! How could a dwarf who could barely even climb into the throne, who didn't have a proper beard, rule the Mountain?

"Bully" is a very silly, light word. What happened was, they broke the confidence and self-esteem of Cognet and Onsett - drove Onsett into the deep recesses of his own already-shattered mind, never to come back out again. Something was always wrong with Onsett, of course, something had to be wrong - he kept killing all those poor little animals, and didn't seem to understand what the sound of a scream meant - but no one knew just how wrong he was. Cognet, on the other hand, was always too kind for his own good, secretly wishing for love and acceptance everywhere he went - the lonely middle son never got that, whether from other dwarves, or from his brothers. The only creatures in the entire world who treated him like a sentient being deserving of basic courtesy lived Below, the only person in all his lonely universe who told him he deserved to have confidence was...

Well. Only the eldest came out still knowing who he was: the destined heir to his father's throne, who need not care about what the bigger, older dwarves thought of him and his tiny, unimpressive beard, and his exceptionally small stature. The other two simply fell victim to the rest of the Mountain's attempts to push them out of the way, as the dwarves of the Mountain had their own designs for the throne. But not Octet.

Despite everything, though, just like the proper king he was always meant to be, Octet mourned for the loss of the dwarves of the Mountain. No matter what these wicked men did, they didn't deserve to suffer and die. They didn't deserve to watch their home crumble before their eyes, helpless to do anything about it - and their 'bullying' never much bothered him anyway. He simply relied on himself for his own self-worth, unlike Cognet, he knew the importance of his deeds, talents, and heritage. Therefore, he knew he was important. He didn't isolate like Onsett did, he didn't let his mind turn black with such hatred - because, the strangest part of how the Mountain fell, is the fact that very few dwarves died by being crushed by rocks. Most of the dwarves died because of what Onsett did, what Octet would never- do. And that's why it was so hard for anyone who knew of the Mountain to find any of the dead under the rocks, their bones - and, yes, even seconds after the Mountain had fell all the way to the ground, that was all that was left after Onsett was finished - had become so thin that they were nearly see-through, that they blended in with the rocks.

The dwarves didn't even have souls to send anywhere, anymore. They were in Onsett's possession now, and who knew what he did with them, if those souls even still exist?

It's fine, that's not important at the moment.

What is important is the fact that Cognet, the middle son, now lived humbly under the Mountain, somewhere in the Land Below. And, if not for the guidance of the very, very bad dream, Octet would have never found his useless, idiot brother who caused all of this trouble.

The middle son who never much liked mining or building had managed to fashion a door and hinges to the opening of a cave. There were no windows that Octet could see, but there was some sort of doormat. That was just like Cognet.

There was no mystery, necessarily, as to who was at the door that morning, because Octet was pounding on the door and announcing, in a firm, loud voice, "Cognet, you will let me in right this instant."

Octet had never known Cognet to disobey a soul before, so he was surprised to find that the door wasn't opening. He assumed at first that Cognet was simply asleep, so he shouted even louder, "Cognet, I will break down this door if you give me reason to! At the very least, you owe me an explanation after everything you've done to us."

But Cognet was wide awake. He was sitting with his back to that very door, and he said, just loud enough for Octet to hear, "No one is home. Leave, and don't come back."

Octet was shocked to hear such talk from his younger brother, who had never said a firm word to anyone before, but he answered quickly, "You're right about that much: no one. But no one, as he is, owes me an explanation! What were you thinking?"

"No one doesn't think," said Cognet, his voice having aged many years despite only a month at the most having passed since Octet last saw him on the Mountain, "Leave, and don't come back. I have to start making breakfast, and there won't be enough for you."

"You don't care, do you?" Octet shouted, stumbling backwards just once, "Dwarves have died because of your foolishness, and you don't have a care in the world - breakfast is the most of your worries?"

Cognet paused just a moment, and said, "No one cares. No one cares so much, that it hasn't slept in days."

"No one cares," Octet said back to his younger brother, "No one cares- _I care_ , you fool! Now, you are going to open this door and let me show you just how much I _care!_ "

Cognet simply rolled his eyes from behind the door. It was the first time since... Ever, that Cognet had even accidentally seemed more clever than his older brother, but he didn't have the will to live or relish in it.

"No one will do no such thing," he said in reply, "You can rage and yell as much as you want, but no one owes you nothing."

"It's 'no one owes you _anything_ ', you damn twit--" Octet stopped, seeming to realize his own folly in not keeping up with Cognet's riddlespeak, but didn't dare admit he was wrong or mistaken, instead giving an exasperated sigh before going on, "What were you thinking? I know there's not _nothing_ in that head of yours. I know you have a mind at all, though you so very much hate using it. What in the world was going through your mind, believing that demon's lies?"

Despite his tough talk, Cognet found himself complying and explaining himself, just as he always would before the fall of the Mountain. "... It sounded like the first time anyone had ever told me the truth."

"It sounded like the first time anyone coddled you, or told you what you wanted to hear," Octet hissed, his forehead right against the door, "You hear me? Malor does not tell the truth, he only tells you what you want to hear--"

"It sounded like... An entire world had opened up in front of me," Cognet said, voice low. "... It sounded like I could breathe, for the first time in my life."

"You have always breathed, you damn fool!" Octet shouted, pounding his fist against the door, "You are alive, aren't you?! Though you hardly deserve it - you're alive! You have been breathing all this time, you've just believed you had to wait for someone else's approval before you approved of yourself!"

Cognet felt his self-control slipping away, he snapped right back, "Not all of us were born with an entire heart, big brother. Not all of us were born with healthy, red, beating hearts."

"Now you claim to be terminally ill - do you hear yourself?!" Octet demanded.

"I _claim nothing_ , you-- I was just--" Cognet let out a frustrated growl, hiding his face in his knees for a moment. When he lifted his head again, he said, "If no one loves me, how am I supposed to love myself? How am I supposed to know what that feels like?"

"You teach yourself how to do it, just like anything else!" Octet said.

"I was the one who always climbed up the mountain. Every time father couldn't get out of bed, I was always the one who picked the roses at the peak for his medicine," said Cognet, coldly. "You didn't do that. I did. You were off 'finding yourself' when father was at his worst, when he was pretending to be at his best for us. I've never insulted you for that. And the thanks I got for that was..."

"You think right now, at a time like this, I'm going to _thank you?!_ " Octet was absolutely shocked - how could his brother be saying these things? "For performing the absolute base level of duties expected of you?! No, you old fool, I will not thank you for functioning! I will not congratulate you, or pat you on the back, or give you a hug - I will expect you to continue functioning!"

Cognet started sniffling behind the door.

"... Malor did all those things," he said eventually, voice trembling a bit, "No one ever had before - but every time I brought him one of his-- gems, he -- thanked me. When I did new things,I'd never tried before, like - swimming, or climbing all that way without breaks sometimes, he would say he was happy, and he thought I was. Incredible."

Despite himself, Octet felt his heart twinge a bit at Cognet's plight.

"No one's ever thought I was incredible before. No one's ever been proud of me before."

"... Father was proud of you," said Octet, voice lowering.

"Father is _dead_ ," Cognet spat out, "Father's been dead for years. Despite my best efforts, he died, just like you and I will someday, no matter how many times I went up the Mountain, he was going to die anyway, no matter what, I wasn't good enough. One person being nice to me, just one person in my whole life, isn't enough. Don't-- don't you dare tell me that has to be enough. I know now that I've been lied to, but I know-- I know it wasn't. Wrong. I know Malor wasn't wrong, I know I deserve more people being nice to me. I know I've always deserved people being proud of me, and it's unfair that, after all this time, the only person who ever was, was... I. I'm just. And now I'm no one. And this time, that's my own-- my own doing."

Octet was silent. He agreed entirely, this was all Cognet's fault.

... But then Cognet went on, shaking a little, and he said, "But that's not... Entirely true. It's not totally true, it's not all my fault - I. I was set up. The others set me up to believe Malor's lies, so did you and Onsett, because-- because no one was ever nice to me before. No one. Of course I -- of course I was going to believe all those things he told me, that. It wasn't. I'm not stupid. I'm _not_ stupid. It wasn't my fault that no one had ever told me those things before, and if any of you had, I don't think I would've been so happy to shut my eyes, and not read in between the lines. If either of you had come with me down here, and helped me separate the truth from the lies, if either of you had been _my brother_ rather than _strangers_..."

"This. Is not. My fault," said Octet, voice gravely serious.

"It's not your fault either," said Cognet, refusing to give his older brother the pleasure of hearing him nervous and over-explaining, "It's not either of our faults that Malor lied. But you are no brother of mine. You have never guided me, or supported me. You have used me as a stepping stool to your own personal glory and nothing else. What's your fault is that I was a perfect sitting duck. What's your fault is that you are-- the worst big brother anyone could have."

... Octet couldn't come up with a counterargument, somehow.

"And what you are going to do," said Cognet, "Is leave me. You're going to leave, and you're going to go somewhere else, and you're never going to try and find me again. This is my mess to clean up, and my mess alone. If you think I want you to help me now, of all times, you are dead wrong - you don't get to swoop in and rescue me, and get the _privilege_ of being called a good brother. That is a _privilege_ only Onsett and I can give you - and, I think I'll be frank with you. You've failed both of us. I'm not going to give you that privilege, and I don't think he will, either. Maybe if his big brother was there for him, we could have helped him before he started thinking it was okay to kill little squirrels and rabbits and-- maybe, at least, before he started thinking it was okay to kill _people_. Maybe his big brother could have shown him a hands-on example of what empathy and love are."

Octet was still dead silent.

"I hate you. I hate you so much," murmured Cognet, just loud enough for Octet to hear, "I hate you. And I bet Onsett hates you too."

... Tears started pricking at the corners of Octet's eyes, but he turned to stone. He was going to be a man about this, he owed Cognet that much.

"I will leave," he said, using all of his focus and self-control to keep his voice steady, though it wobbled a bit, "But- before I leave. One thing. I ask one thing of you."

Cognet immediately snapped back at him, "Oh, alright, one last insult before you go? Wanna call me an idiot one last time, before you run away forever? Damn coward-- alright, well, since it's the last time, you might as well do your worst. Say everything you wanna say to me, tell me I'm worse than Malor. Tell me I have no one but myself to blame for the deaths of our people."

Octet let out a quiet sob - but Cognet either didn't hear it, or didn't care. That was dangerous, you see - for the softest, kindest man in the world to not care when he hears you weeping. That was a dangerous place to have someone to be in, because that means you don't deserve a friend in the world.

Octet asked, trying to control himself, "Where is our younger brother, Cognet?"

... Cognet didn't expect a question like that. He paused a moment.

But he answered the only way he could.

"Since you're so very astute," he said, "Since you're so perfectly competent, I have all the faith in the world that you can find him by yourself, without my help. You don't need it."

Cognet smiled, his entire face numb with the terror and despair ripping him apart inside. He was really doing this. He was really throwing Octet away, and locking the door - in fact, he did that. Physically. With a click, the door he had built was locked, and Octet's heart shattered, his eyes going wide as the full moon. "No one is home. Leave, and don't come back."

... So he quietly left. And the moment he was out of earshot, Octet sobbed so hard, for so long, he nearly couldn't breathe.

The very, very bad dream would continue for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> i've decided on my partner zazo's suggestion to start posting my own original works here! i'll still work on fanfiction i've got going of course, but it might be nice to get some Peer Recognition Peer Approval for my original works, which im more self-conscious about...


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